


Helping Hands

by LovelyLadyLuck



Series: The Kallig Clan [3]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Feelings, Feels, Finlee's a little touch-starved, Fluff, Hair Washing, I'm Bad At Titles, Major Character Injury, Malavai is a good partner, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Post-Betrayal, Quesh, Sweet, Taking care of one another, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:02:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27223192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyLadyLuck/pseuds/LovelyLadyLuck
Summary: After her former master drops a cave on her, Lady Finlee Irtaya is injured and in need of some help. Her partner, Captain Quinn, is of course happy to do so.
Relationships: Malavai Quinn/Female Sith Warrior
Series: The Kallig Clan [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1846168
Kudos: 9





	Helping Hands

**Author's Note:**

> This installment of pure fluff brought to you by my insomnia, compelling me to ignore that 8 am class I have alarmingly soon. 
> 
> I'm honestly a little surprised nobody has thought of something like this yet, but whatever. Also, Finlee's left-handed, don't know if I mentioned that before, just in case there's any confusion.

Focus Character: Finlee  
Point in timeline: just after Quesh, second visit  
Series: The Kallig Clan

Finlee sat at the vanity in her stateroom, trying to loose her hair from the high bun she kept it in when in the field. This task was made far more difficult than it usually was by the fact that she only had the use of one arm at the moment, and her non-dominant one at that. Her left shoulder had been dislocated two days previously when her former master’s smug pet apprentice had dropped a cavern on her. She’d pushed Quinn and Jaesa to safety, flinging them clear of the falling rock with the Force, but had been caught herself in the collapse. She didn’t remember anything after that until she’d slowly come awake in the small medbay of her ship, her left arm bound and held still and a dull ache radiating from her shoulder. Quinn had heard her trying to sit up, and immediately rushed to help, relief coming off of him in waves and apparent in the slight shaking in his voice when he asked her how she felt. She’d only shaken her head and clutched at his shoulder, desperately scanning his form for any sign that he’d been injured as well before pulling him close when she saw no such sign.

The next several hours were something of a blur; the mysterious Hand had declared her the Emperor’s Wrath, a title she had never heard of before, and then had given her the mission to slay her former master Baras, the false Voice. She still had no idea what to make of this development, and had resolved privately to call Danriss later to see what sort of records he could find about the Voice of the Emperor and the Emperor’s Hand, as well as what precisely was expected of her as the Wrath, or if there had been one before her. 

For now, though, such concerns were set aside, and her biggest obstacle at the moment was the difficulty of taking her hair down with only the use of her right hand. She had managed to get the pins holding her hair in a twist to come loose, and her hair had fallen down her back into a clump, held together by the remaining kolto that hadn’t been washed out yet. The tie that held her hair in a tail on top of her head was also soaked in kolto, and firmly stuck to the strands. Her attempts to pull it free proved painful, and she switched to trying to break the bond between the tie and her hair instead.

When that also failed, her contemplation of her scissors and a new haircut were thankfully interrupted by a quiet knock at her door. Quinn entered at her call, and took in the (probably bizarre) tableau she presented as the door slid closed behind him. 

“Are you...all right?” he questioned, clearly not knowing quite what to make of her situation.

Finlee shook her head. “It turns out long hair such as mine is much more difficult to deal with when one’s arm is injured.”

He smiled softly and huffed out a laugh before stepping closer, drawing up behind where she sat. “Perhaps I could be of some assistance, then?” he offered, removing his gloves and extending his hand for the comb she held. 

Finlee smiled back at him, and pressed the comb into his hand, murmuring “I would very much appreciate that, yes.”

He took the comb and turned his attention to her hair, entangling his fingers in the fine strands. After a moment he was able to free the tie from where it had glued itself, snapping it in the process. She laughed softly at his startled expression when that happened, and waved off his apology, having halfway expected it to happen anyway. Once the tie was gone, another problem quickly made itself apparent: the remaining kolto in her hair would need to be washed free before any brush or comb would be able to run through it. 

“I...don’t think I can manage that on my own just now. Will you help me?” she asked him, somewhat shy still. 

He was blushing quite red now, but nodded his affirmation, whispering, “Of course, my - my dear. Whatever you need.” 

She flushed slightly at his endearment, pleased. She walked into her private refresher, pulling the cleanser down from its shelf in her shower stall. After a moment she heard Quinn enter the refresher too, and said while turning to face him, “I think it would be best if we tried this in the stall, my hair is probably too long to properly wash in...the...sink” she trailed off as she took in the sight of him in the doorway. He’d removed his uniform jacket, and rolled up the long sleeves of his shirt to above his elbows, revealing his forearms. He’d also removed his boots, and stood barefoot like her. It was a softer image of him than she’d ever seen before; he was fastidious about his appearance, with never anything out of place or in contradiction with regulations. And while she had seen him in various states of disarray before (and in fact had been the cause of several of those occurrences), she would never characterize them as soft. 

He looked...comfortable, domestic. And she found she enjoyed it far more than she had ever thought. 

The sound of him clearing his throat drew her out of her thoughts, and she realized she had been staring. He had an amused little smile on his face, further softening the rather severe lines of his bone structure. “Certainly, if you think that would work best. How do you wish to proceed?”

Finlee turned to study the stall, mentally taking stock of their options. Several ideas were discarded, before she decided. “I think perhaps if I knelt here on the floor, and leaned over the rim while you washed? Then we won’t get water everywhere.” she offered. 

He came up next to her and studied the stall himself for a moment before nodding. She pulled the shower hose free from its holster and turned the knob to activate it, keeping the stream gentle rather than the harder pressure she normally preferred. She set the cleanser on the floor and knelt, handing the shower hose to Quinn and leaning over. A moment later she felt the warm water on the top and back of her head, running down and soaking into her hair, Quinn moving the hose around so that it wetted her hair evenly. Once it was thoroughly soaked, he turned the stream off and picked up the cleanser, before asking her, “How much…?”

She laughed quietly, saying “Lots. Kolto doesn’t come out easily.”

She heard the lid flipped open and the sound of the bottle being squeezed. And then he ran his fingers through the hair at her scalp, massaging it in there before moving down to the rest of her hair. 

“You-you’ll have to rub the cleanser in for a while, before it starts to come out.” she gasped out, and felt his fingers move back up to her scalp. Her eyes fluttered closed as he worked, clutching at the rim of the stall with the fingers of her one good hand. The sensation of his skilled medic’s hands, always gentle, running through her hair was like nothing she’d ever felt, and it sent endless shivers down her spine. Somehow, despite all that they’d shared before, all the nights that they’d spent together doing...what couples do (and the thought of them as a _couple _was new and exciting in its own right), this felt so much more intimate than anything else they’d done. His fingers moved lower again, and began to work through the clumps there. Slowly, under his patient ministrations, the sticky kolto lost its hold and came loose. He combed through the wet strands with his fingers, ignoring the actual comb on the countertop, gently working the cleanser into the kolto clumps.__

__It took several cycles of rinsing and cleaning before her hair was completely free of kolto, and after an application of conditioner and a final rinse, they were finished. Finlee wrung the excess water from her hair as best she could, and Quinn draped one of her soft bath towels around her shoulders, anticipating her need. Her heart melted as she pulled it close around herself and smiled up at her partner, murmuring her thanks under her breath. Quinn just smiled back at her and bent to help her back to her feet, wrapping one arm around her waist and bracing her body on his. She leaned into his frame and allowed him to guide her back to her vanity to sit in her chair. She began to dry her hair with the towel, until Quinn clasped her hand and lowered it back into her lap. Finlee watched his reflection curiously, and curiosity turned to surprise when he picked up the towel himself and began to gently squeeze the water out. He was careful not to cause her discomfort by pulling or dragging the towel across her scalp, always gentle._ _

__Once her hair was no longer dripping, he returned the towel to its rail in the refresher and returned with her brush. When he stood behind her again, his eyes met hers in the mirror as he held the brush up for her to see. “May I?”_ _

__Finlee nodded slowly, not sure what to make of this development. “Start at the tips, and don’t-”_ _

__“Don’t pull at the knots, or I’ll pull a whole clump free.” he finished for her, warmth evident in his tone._ _

__“Well - yes. How did you know?” she asked._ _

__He chuckled, beginning to draw the brush through the ends of her hair. “I’m the eldest child in my family, and with three rather strong-willed younger sisters, I didn’t exactly have a say in the matter. For a long while it seemed I was constantly getting illicit treats unstuck from their hair, so that they didn’t have to face the wrath of our mother.”_ _

__Finlee laughed at that, picturing a young Quinn being coerced into helping several small, dark-haired girls with their predicaments. “That’s adorable. And clearly the skill is proving useful.” she joked, and he chuckled again. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, enjoying the sensation of him brushing her hair. She’d never let any of the men she’d been with previously play with her hair; in fact she hadn’t let most of them even see her hair, always keeping it tightly wrapped with her headscarf. Not that any of them would have ever offered, in any case. They hadn’t cared about her, and she had been just as apathetic towards them._ _

__They were both silent for a long while, Quinn intent on his task and Finlee just enjoying the attention. The soft glide of the brush through her white locks of hair sent waves of shivers down her spine, raising nunabumps on her arms. She let out a soft sigh and leaned back further into his hands, relishing the quiet intimacy they shared. His hands never ceased in their task, though she did feel him briefly run his hand over her good shoulder, trailing his fingers along her skin and tracing the scar there she’d gotten on Taris._ _

__After a while, Quinn’s diligent care paid off, and the brush ran smoothly from her roots to the tips, now nearly halfway down her thigh. She’d meant to get it trimmed the next time they were on Dromund Kaas, but resigned herself to the probable outcome that she wouldn’t be seeing her stormy homeworld anytime soon. Her most recent visit there had been brief, and Baras had allowed her no time to rest before sending her off to the toxic wasteland of Quesh. If he’d had his way, she would never have seen her homeworld again._ _

__Quinn leaned over her for a moment to set her brush on the vanity, the hard plane of his stomach briefly grazing the back of her head. He picked up a tie from the dish where she kept them, and hesitated for a moment. “Would you like me to braid it as well?” he asked in a low voice._ _

__Finlee opened her eyes and looked at him in the mirror. His expression was earnest and serious, with no trace of teasing in his deep blue eyes. Her heart melted once again beneath his gaze, and she offered him a wan smile before lightly asking him, “Is there no limit to your talents, beloved? Truly, there doesn’t seem to be anything you cannot do.”_ _

__His emotions surged for a brief second at her endearment, and he returned her smile with one of his own. “In this case, I’m afraid this is the limit; a braid is all I was ever taught, for anything more complex my sisters preferred the assistance of one another.”_ _

__Finlee laughed lowly, and nodded her consent. “Please. I’d appreciate it very much.”_ _

__Permission given, Quinn set to work on his final task. Finlee’s eyes fell closed once again as his skilled fingers delicately sectioned her locks, warm where they brushed against her scalp and the nape of her neck. The strands were mostly dry now, slippery under his hands as he wove them together, but he let none of them escape. When he finished, he draped the long tail over her good shoulder. Finlee ran her fingertips along the braid, marvelling at the evenness that she had never quite been able to accomplish on her own. She raised her pale grey eyes to meet his blue in the mirror, smile watery, and whispered her thanks._ _

__Quinn moved his hand to rest softly on her good shoulder, his thumb rubbing little circles against the column of her neck. “Do you need anything else? Are you in any pain?”_ _

__Finlee laid her own hand atop his as best she could, and spun her chair around to face him. She moved his hand from her shoulder to her face, and he cradled her cheek in his palm, sweeping his thumb over her cheekbone. She pressed a soft kiss to the inside of his wrist, and twined the fingers of his other hand with her own._ _

__“I’m all right, beloved. I’m not in any pain.” She tried to be reassuring, but her voice had too many unshed tears in it for that, and the gentle concern was still apparent in her partner’s eyes as he knelt before her, bringing them to a slightly more even height._ _

__“Are you sure? You suffered extensive injury. Even with your luck, you’re lucky to be alive, darling.”_ _

__She just nodded, and released her hold on his hand to run hers up his arm to the back of his neck, guiding him in for a kiss. They kept it rather chaste, though it didn’t lack emotion. He wrapped his now-free arm around her waist, pulling her close and nearly out of her chair. When they broke apart after several long moments, Quinn pressed his forehead against hers, eyes closed. They remained like that for a while, simply breathing the same air and reassuring themselves that the other was alive._ _

__Eventually, Quinn sighed and pulled back, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “You should get some rest. You need it after what you’ve been through.” he murmured._ _

__Finlee nodded, knowing he was right. “Stay the night?”_ _

__He smiled at her. “Of course. Whatever you need.”_ _

__And, as Finlee curled into his arms a short while later, allowing herself to be soothed into sleep by the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, she smiled in contentment. This hadn’t been how she had planned her life to go, but she wouldn’t trade it for anything._ _


End file.
